On the rise again: Delta variant drives doubling of US COVID-19 cases

Data from Johns Hopkins University show United States COVID-19 cases have doubled over the past three weeks, due in part to the Delta variant and stagnating vaccination rates. Fourth of July gatherings may have also played a role.

On Monday, Johns Hopkins reported the U.S. was averaging 23,600 new cases a day. On June 23, that number was at 11,600. Maine and South Dakota are the only two states who haven’t seen an increase in cases in the last two weeks.

Dr. James Lawler, a leader of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, said bringing back masks and limiting gatherings would help curb increasing. However, he also said most of the places seeing higher rates of the virus “are exactly the areas of the country that don’t want to do any of these things.”

He warned what is happening with the Delta variant in Great Britain is a preview of what’s to come in the U.S.

“The descriptions from regions of the world where the delta variant has taken hold and become the predominant virus are pictures of ICUs full of 30-year-olds,” Dr. Lawler said. “That’s what the critical care doctors describe and that’s what’s coming to the U.S.”

Lawler added, “I think people have no clue what’s about to hit us.”

The parts of the country Lawler referenced also have lower vaccination rates. As of Wednesday morning, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 55.6 percent of all Americans have received at least one COVID-19 shot. The vaccination rates of the five states with the biggest two-week jump in cases per capita: Missouri, 45.9%; Arkansas, 43%; Nevada, 50.9%; Louisiana, 39.2%; and Utah, 49.5%.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bill Powderly, co-director of the infectious disease division at Washington University’s School of Medicine in St. Louis, said he was expecting at least some kind of rise in cases.

“It is certainly no coincidence that we are looking at exactly the time that we would expect cases to be occurring after the July Fourth weekend,” Dr. Powderly said.